Swimming Lessons
by pandorad24
Summary: While the flock kicks back in Florida, Iggy makes a confession; Fang makes an offer. No figgy, just brotherly warm fuzzies. Commission for Moe10.


**Here you go, Moe! I finished it a little later than I thought, and the plot you gave me was a little loose, so I just kind of let my imagination fill in the blanks… But I hope you like it!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own MR (shocker), or even this plot – most of it was given to me by Moe10, who asked that I write this as a favor. Enjoy (my very first non-angst fic)!**

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><p><em>~ Swimming Lessons ~<em>

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><p>Florida. That was the flock's latest venue; Max had convinced us that since it was getting closer to Winter, it was ridiculous to be freezing our butts off sleeping in trees up North, and we should follow our avian instincts and migrate down to The Sunshine State.<p>

Frankly (speaking as someone who enjoys living in the dark like some kind of bat), it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The place attracted tourists like moths to flame, but that made it almost effortless to blend in and avoid any potential trouble Itex might send our way. And the best part was, there were a lot of unoccupied beach houses since all the rich people had gone home for the winter, so all we had to do was break in and enjoy the roof over our heads. It was pretty nice to just relax and breathe easy for once - I found that I was actually enjoying myself quite a bit.

"Come on, Fang!" Gazzy called, grinning as he sprinted wildly across the sand and into the foamy waves. One of the great things about the house we found was that they had their own small stretch of beach barricaded by huge rocks on either side, shared only by other beach houses which were also unoccupied. We could swim in the ocean all we wanted, without having to worry about our wings being spotted by other beach-goers. The kids really enjoyed it, and I think Max was just happy that they were having fun - I expected we would be staying there for a while.

Pulling off my T-shirt, I ran after Gazzy and waded into the chilly salt water. The kids paid no attention to the cold, diving under the waves and playing around with each other happily. I saw Angel apparently having an animated discussion with a school of fish (that girl never ceases to amaze me), and Max battling Nudge in a splash-fight on the sand bar. The only one missing was...

I turned to look back to shore, and saw Iggy sitting alone on the beach. I wondered why he wasn't swimming and playing with the others - unlike me, he always took up an opportunity to have some fun with the flock. Concerned, I decided to go and ask him about it.

"Hey, Iggy," I said once I'd made my way out of the water, approaching my friend who sat just out of reach of the tide, staring unseeingly down at a shell in his hands and looking a bit dejected. "What are you doing? Why aren't you getting in the water?"

He glanced up in my direction for a moment, then replied, "It's too cold."

"Oh, come on," I said, folding my arms across my chest. "It's not that bad. Everyone else is having a good time."

Iggy frowned. "I just don't feel like it right now, okay?"

Something in his voice made me hesitate, and I decided to let it go for a while. I could ask him about it later.

"Alright, Iggy," I said, turning back to the waves. "Suit yourself."

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><p>Later, when everyone was settling down to sleep at the beach house, I tapped Iggy on the shoulder and pulled him aside. "What is it?" he asked, stifling a yawn with his hand.<p>

"Can you come outside for a minute?" I said quietly. "I wanted to ask you something."

"Um, okay," he replied, stepping out onto the large back porch with me. I slid the door closed, and when I was sure we were out of earshot, I confronted him.

"What the heck was your problem today?" I demanded. "Why were you just sitting on the beach by yourself? Everyone else was swimming!"

"You think I don't know that?" he retorted, and for some reason, the tips of his ears began to glow red.

"So why didn't you swim?" I asked. Just the simple question made his cheeks flush with embarrassment.

"Because," he replied.

"'Because' isn't an answer," I said flatly. "What is it, then? You PMS-ing or something?"

I thought he would glare at me, but instead he just looked down at his sneakers. "Because, I... I don't..." he stammered, his blush getting deeper all the time, and he mumbled something I couldn't make out.

"What?"

"Because I don't know how!" He burst out, and immediately let his gaze drop down to the floor again, mortified.

I was shocked. "You... You don't know how to swim?"

He shook his head, his face still burning crimson. "Remember, when Jeb took you guys down to the lake by the E-Shaped House to teach you? And I didn't..."

"You didn't go," I finished, the memory suddenly dawning on me.

Swimming was one of the first things Jeb taught us when we escaped to the E-Shaped House. He said it was _"a practical, necessary skill for evading an enemy on compromising terrain"_. He took all of us (even Angel, who was only two at the time) down to the nearby lake for lessons; well, almost all of us. "Jeb..."

"Jeb didn't think I could _handle_ it," Iggy snarled, and through the anger and embarrassment I saw a flicker of despondency in his eyes. He let out a deep sigh, his shoulders slumping slightly. "It had been three months. I could get around fine..."

"You could barely walk two feet without bumping into anything," I reminded him, maybe a little bit more harshly than I should have. Suddenly, I saw his eyes brim with tears, and he grit his teeth in frustration.

"I was trying!" he nearly shouted, his voice cracking. He took in a shuddering breath and continued in a softer, bitter tone, determinedly holding back tears. "I was trying my best... But Jeb... Jeb wouldn't let me learn with the rest of you. All because of that stupid... operation..."

I bit my lip. I honestly had no idea what to say to my friend at that point. I paused, thinking of how to cheer him up... and then I had an idea.

"Hey, Ig," I said, trying to bring some positivity back into the situation. "Um, I was thinking… why don't I teach you?"

"You? Teach me... how to swim...?" he said slowly, as if he couldn't believe I would ever suggest such a thing. But here I was - offering to give my best friend swimming lessons… which may not be one of my brightest ideas, but I felt as if I had to do _something_. He just looked so darn depressed, it was pitiful.

"Of course," I replied, giving him a bright smile that I knew he couldn't see. Oh well. "I know it's important to you. The flock doesn't have to know - we can just tell 'em we're getting some food for the morning and go down to the beach."

"Now?" there was a small tremor of nervousness in his voice.

"Yeah, now," I said, and I stuck my head through the sliding glass door to shout to Max, "Hey, Iggy and I are gonna head out to the store!"

"Fine," she replied, and after a moment of thought she added, "Bring me back some chocolate-chip cookies. The crunchy ones - the others taste like preservatives."

I shut the door, leaving her to her mutterings about the evils of store-bought slices of processed cardboard that snack franchises dare call cookies... I shook my head. That girl had a problem.

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><p>After a quick trip to the nearby 7-Eleven to get a few groceries and Max's precious chocolate-chip cookies (we couldn't just come back empty-handed), Iggy and I flew down to the beach for his swimming lesson. We stripped off our shirts, and I began heading into the water. I was about up to my knees when I realized Iggy wasn't following me.<p>

"C'mon, Ig!" I called, turning back to the beach to see Iggy standing in the sand where I'd left him, staring out at the ocean uncertainly. I sighed, marching back out to shore and taking his arm, pulling him towards the waves. I heard him giving stuttered protests, but I wasn't listening. "I said I was going to teach you to swim, and you're gonna learn, so hush," I told him, the tide lapping at us, coming up nearly to our waists now.

"I don't think this is such a good idea, Fang," he said, trying to tug his arm out of my grasp.

"Quit freaking out," I said, and with a grin, I shoved him into the water. I wasn't trying to be a jerk, I just figured that the best way to get him to learn was to put him in a situation where he would have to swim, and instinct would handle the rest.

I was wrong.

Iggy was splashing around and clearly struggling to keep is head above water, barely managing an awkward dog paddle while sputtering my name in a panic. "Fang! Fang, help! _Fang!"_ Before I could reach him, a large wave crashed over us and engulfed us both. I was tossed around underwater like a ragdoll in a washing machine, and when I finally got up for air, Iggy was nowhere to be seen.

"Iggy!" I called, frantically scanning the dark, vast stretch of water for any sign of my brother. _"Iggy!"_

_Oh my gosh,_ I thought, my mind going into overdrive with terror. _I lost him. I lost my freaking brother!_ My fault. This was all my fault...

And then, the sea suddenly deposited Iggy back onto the sand, choking and coughing up mouthfuls of saltwater as he crouched tremblingly on all fours.

"Ig!" I shouted, relieved that he was okay. I rushed to his side, and when he was done vomiting the ocean he'd involuntarily swallowed, he rolled onto his back and rested his head on the sand exhaustedly, panting. "Let's not... do that... again," he wheezed.

"You got it, Ig," I said, cracking a small smile. "No more ocean. Promise."

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><p>Several days later, I was still determined to teach Iggy how to swim. I knew that it was a bad idea to take him back down to the beach, but who's to say we couldn't take advantage of someone's pool?<p>

"Alright, Iggy," I said, "it's time for your second lesson. Swimming, take two." It was the middle of the night, and after Iggy and I had snuck out while Max and the flock slept, we easily broke into another beach house's screened pool-enclosure (what's the point of those, anyway? They did nothing for keeping people out, and if the goal was to provide shade, then those tiny holes sure did a crappy job of it).

Iggy seemed much less anxious this time, now that there were no roaring waves in his ears to distract him. He tossed his shirt and shoes away and hopped into the shallow end of the pool, which, when he stood, only came up to about his navel since he was so tall.

I shook my head. "You'll never learn to swim that way," I said. "Get into the deep end."

"No way, man, you're not pushing me this time," Iggy said with a grin, putting his hands up in a defensive gesture. "Max will hold you responsible for drowning the most handsome resident blind guy in the flock."

I rolled my eyes. "What a tragedy _that_ would be." Iggy then unfurled his wings, using them to propel a huge splash wave at me in retaliation to the sarcasm, soaking me from head to toe in freezing water. "Hey!" Iggy laughed at the girlish squeal, and I pulled off my shirt, kicked my shoes to the side and jumped in after him, splashing him as well. We spent a good ten minutes just playing around with each other like the kids did, and honestly, I couldn't remember having so much fun in a long time. I really enjoyed goofing off and spending time with Iggy.

Eventually I called off the fight, and insisted that we get to work teaching him how to swim. It was more fun than I thought it would be, and a half-hour later, he was already swimming underwater with ease. The hard part was getting him to do actual strokes, which he claimed were less fun, since he couldn't sneak up on people and scare them.

By the time we left the pool, Iggy was confident in his swimming skills. He said that, first thing the next morning, he would ask Max to go down to the beach and race him. "There's no way I'm getting beaten by a girl," he joked.

"You've got a good chance of winning," I told him.

"I did learn from the master."

I laughed. "Come on, grasshopper," I said, "let's go to bed before Max wakes up and kills us. You might find it difficult to win that race if you're dead."

Mission - teach Iggy how to swim: accomplished. Now if I could just teach him to stop blowing up Max's belongings, I'd be golden.

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><p><strong>Ah, brotherly love – it's my favorite (next to figgy XP). I hope this met your expectations, Moe, and thank you for the plot – I had a lot of fun with it!<strong>

**Reviews would be much appreciated! :D**


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